Tuesday, February 28, 2012

A few quotes about sannyasa dharma

[PADA: Thanks to Mahesh Raja prabhu for sending these quotes]

SB 3.24.34 P The Renunciation of Kardama Muni
Actually, sannyasa, or renunciation of material household life, necessitates complete absorption in Krsna consciousness and immersion in the self. One does not take sannyasa, freedom from family responsibility in the renounced order of life, to make another family or to create an embarrassing transcendental fraud in the name of sannyasa. The sannyasi's business is not to become proprietor of so many things and amass money from the innocent public. A sannyasi is proud that he is always thinking of Krsna within himself. Of course, there are two kinds of devotees of the Lord. One is called gosthy-anandi, which means those who are preachers and have many followers for preaching the glories of the Lord and who live among those many, many followers just to organize missionary activities. Other devotees are atmanandi, or self-satisfied, and do not take the risk of preaching work. They remain, therefore, alone with God. In this classification was Kardama Muni. He wanted to be free from all anxieties and remain alone within his heart with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Parivraja means "an itinerant mendicant." A mendicant sannyasi should not live anywhere for more than three days. He must be always moving because his duty is to move from door to door and enlighten people about Krsna consciousness.

Madhya 15.243 The Lord Accepts Prasada at the House of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya
A sannyasi is expected to collect a little food from each and every householder. That is to say, he should take whatever he requires to eat. This system is called madhukari. The word madhukari comes from the word madhukara and means "honey-collecting bees." Bees collect a little honey from each flower, but all these small quantities of honey accumulate to become a beehive. Sannyasis should collect a little from each and every householder and should eat simply what is necessary to maintain the body. Being a sannyasi, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu could collect a little food from the house of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, and this was the Bhattacarya's request. Compared to the food eaten by the Lord on other occasions, Bhattacarya's feast was not even a morsel. This is what Bhattacarya is pointing out to the Lord.

Antya 8.85 Ramacandra Puri Criticizes the Lord
"For a sannyasi to indulge in satisfying the tongue is a great offense. The duty of a sannyasi is to eat only as much as needed to keep body and soul together."

Madhya 3.70 Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's Stay at the House of Advaita Acarya
The word upakarana indicates a variety of foods, such as dal, vegetables and other varieties of possible dishes that one can eat very nicely with rice. It is not proper, however, for a sannyasi to eat such palatable dishes. If he did so, he would not be able to control his senses. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu did not encourage sannyasis to eat very palatable dishes, for the whole Vaisnava cult is vairagya-vidya, as renounced as possible.Caitanya Mahaprabhu also advised Raghunatha dasa Gosvami not to eat very palatable dishes, wear very nice garments or talk on mundane subjects. These things are all prohibited for those in the renounced order. A devotee does not accept anything to eat that is not first offered to Krsna. All the rich foods offered to Krsna are given to the grhasthas, the householders. There are many nice things offered to Krsna--garlands, bedsteads, nice ornaments, nice food and even nicely prepared pan, betel nuts--but a humble Vaisnava, thinking his body material and nasty, does not accept such preparations for himself. He thinks that by accepting such things he will offend the lotus feet of the Lord. Those who are sahajiyas cannot understand what Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu meant when He asked Advaita Acarya to bring two separate leaves and give a small quantity of the prasada to Him.

1 comment:

  1. Prabhupada: What can I do? This is our movement. We have to select men from the worst class. Papi tapi jata chilo. Nobody will come here after passing M.A., Ph.D. The most fallen we have to select.

    Tamala Krsna: Lowest?

    Prabhupada: Papi tapi jata chilo, hari-name uddharilo. This is our position. We have to select our worker from the worst class of the society, papi and tapi. But, we shall prove, by hari-nama they become Krsna conscious.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.